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enGerrard to MK Dons? 10 superstars who suffered nightmares in lower-league dugoutsGoing down the leagues to make your name as a manager isnt easy. And if you fail once, writes Richard Edwards, youre lucky if you get another crack at it...Richard Edwardshttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/gerrard-mk-dons-10-superstars-who-suffered-nightmares-lower-league-dugouts
10. Tony Adams, Wycombe, 2003
“I’ve been enjoying my sports science degree at university, which I’m halfway through, but it feels right to be here now,” said Tony Adams at his Wycombe unveiling in November 2003. Club director Alan Parry clearly felt the same.
“We had the same feelings when Martin O’Neill walked in here,” he said. The current Republic of Ireland boss walked out of Adams Park a hero, having successfully navigated the club into the Football League. Adams took them in the opposite direction, overseeing relegation from League One.
That said, he was hardly given a huge budget to turn around this sinking ship. “One day I lost a player because the chairman refused to pay the £90 he wanted for a TV licence,” he would later tell The Daily Mail. Spells at Portsmouth and Gabala followed. Success didn’t.
9. Bobby Moore, Southend United, 1984
Moore's limited spell in management and coaching remains an irremovable stain on his career. And if the World Cup-winning captain thought a stint at Roots Hall in the mid-80s would boost his chances of getting a job elsewhere he was left sorely disappointed. First appointed as manager in February 1984 – just months after being named the club’s chief executive –he steadied the ship but left his role just two years later with the Shrimpers anchored in Fourth Division obscurity. “I don’t know what the future holds,” he said on his departure. It was his last managerial job.
8. Peter Shilton, Plymouth, 1992
Shilton was still playing when he left Derby and headed south to join Plymouth as player-manager. “I see the job as a tremendous challenge,” he said in March 1992. He couldn’t have been more right. The Pilgrims were relegated from the Second Division just two months later, Shilton’s reign little short of disastrous. His rapport with chairman Dan McCauley made the relationship between Russia and Ukraine look positively cordial, while his players, bizarrely, were threatened with a fine if they offered an opinion of their own in interviews. In fairness, his Plymouth side scored goals aplenty but when gates dipped to a nine-year low, Shilton was off – and never to return to management again.
Next page: Charlton at Preston7. Bobby Charlton, Preston
“I have always admired Preston and I think the club has tremendous possibilities,” said Charlton in May 1973. But after the Lilywhites were relegated from the Second Division in his first season in charge, the England legend was on a hiding to nothing. He even decided to don the boots again to demonstrate the art of goalscoring to his hapless side, scoring his 200th league goal against Walsall in September 1974 – a strike which proved a rare highlight in an otherwise unforgettable reign. He resigned in the summer of 1975 over the sale of club captain John Bird to Newcastle. “It has been a matter of principle,” he said. He was never tempted into returning.
6. Tommy Lawton, Brentford
As a goalscorer, the princely Lawton towered above his peers. When it came to decision making? Not so much. Lawton’s decision to leave Chelsea for Third Division Notts County in 1947 remains one of the most baffling in history, and his first foray into management caused equal amounts of head scratching. A number of high-profile sides were rumoured to be queuing up to offer him a return to the top flight, but when he did move, in 1952, it wasn’t to Old Trafford or Highbury but to Brentford’s Griffin Park. “There was no smooth transition to management,” wrote Ivan Ponting in The Independent’s Lawton obituary in November 1996. “He was booed for the first time in his life, to which he took grave exception, and before long he resigned.”
5. Kerry Dixon, Doncaster
Former boss Sammy Chung didn’t even know Dixon had been appointed until he opened the door to his former office and found the former Chelsea and England man sat behind his desk just 90 minutes before the opening game of the 1996/97 season. Dixon remained in charged for a full season at the club’s then-home, Belle Vue, but left after three games of the following campaign. An 8-0 League Cup humping by Nottingham Forest proved to be the final straw. He went down fighting, though, insisting the team for that game wasn’t picked by him but by chairman Ken Richardson.
4. Ian Rush, Chester City
Former team-mate Mark Lawrenson expressed doubts about Rush’s ability to cut it in management before the ink was dry on his contract at Chester City – although the Welshman gave his ex-colleague, and presumably former friend, short shrift. “What he said was an insult not only to me, but to those running Chester who I know interviewed many outstanding candidates before they appointed me.” As it was, Lawro’s punditry career comfortably outlasted Rush’s in management, although in mitigation Chester were already well on the road to disaster when he took over in August 2004. It remains his sole spell in management. Once bitten, twice shy.
Next page: Davids and his executive orders3. Stanley Matthews, Port Vale
As a flying winger, Matthews, the Wizard of Dribble, was quite simply magic. And when he called time on his astonishing career at the age of 50 – think (roughly) Jurgen Klopp running out at Anfield in a figure-hugging shirt rather than a tracksuit – he decided, quite naturally, that a career in management beckoned. As it was, his three-year stint at Port Vale was a complete shocker. The club was fined for financial irregularities and was turfed out of the league. All without Matthews ever claiming a penny in wages. He too would never set foot in the dugout again.
2. Chris Sutton, Lincoln City
Once English football’s most expensive player when he signed for Blackburn from Norwich for £5m, Sutton was also labelled one of English football's most difficult characters, making him perfect managerial material. FFT can confirm that this persona was more fiction than fact, but he had little to smile about at Sincil Bank. He resigned in September 2010, a year after taking the job, citing ‘personal reasons’. He hasn't taken the reins anywhere else.
1. Edgar Davids, Barnet
No one saw the appointment of the former Netherlands international coming, and even fewer thought he would hang around when the club were relegated to the Conference under his watch. After relegation he took the No.1 shirt, claiming he would "start a trend" by doing so. Nevertheless, nobody could accuse Davids of taking an easy route into management and even fewer could claim he didn’t have the club’s best interests at heart. He played 36 league matches for the Bees and resigned in January with the club just three points off a play-off place. Whether he gets –or wants –another shot at management remains to be seen.
READ THIS10 of the stupidest shirt numbers ever
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featureFri, 18 Nov 2016 14:28:29 +0000Joe Brewin291097 at http://www.fourfourtwo.com17 teams we can’t wait to be on Football Manager 2017Heres who were eyeing up to play as on the games latest instalmentJoe Brewinhttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/17-teams-we-cant-wait-be-football-manager-2017
1. Everton (Premier League)
After such a dismal 2015/16 for the Toffees,the only way is up. Expectations are perfectly achievable with your current squad: to finish in the Europa League and reach the FA Cup quarter-finals. But with a £45m transfer kitty and £106k per week left to play with for wages, you can add to an already-talented bunch and perhaps even surpass what the board are expecting of you.
2. Leicester (Premier League)
What on earth is a good season for Leicester? Really, it’s all about how far you can take them in the Champions League on this save – but unfortunately for you, it’s unlikely you’ll be pulling out Porto, Club Brugge and Copenhagen like the Foxes’ kind real-life draw. The board aren’t expecting you to progress and only want a top-half finish in the league, so with the £9.5m you’ll get to spend on new faces (plus £109k free on the wage bill) you can’t really go too far wrong.
3. Burton (Championship)
Like a challenge good? There’s a reason Burton’s board only care about you staying up: because you’ll have your work cut out with the Championship’s lowest wage budget by far (that £67k per week is 17 times less than Newcastle, for example, and about the same as Portsmouth’s in League Two). You’ll need to use the loan market well.
4. and 5. Leeds, Nottingham Forest (Championship)
Many managers have tried and failed to restore both of these former giants to old glories, mainly thanks to madcap ownership and a distinct lack of patience. So now it’s your turn to try. You’ll get better resources with Forest – a £500k transfer budget and £339k-per-week wage budget that you start £14k under; at Leeds, there’s £100k to spend on players but no wriggle room for incomings unless you shift folk off the payroll. Your first job is convincing the likes of Charlie Taylor, Souleymane Doukara and Alex Mowatt to extend their current deals – or risk losing them for peanuts.
Next: The hardest challenge in English football?6. Charlton (League One)
Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. Zero transfer budget. £32k per week over budget on wages. Your highest earner, Jorge Teixeira, is sidelined for two to three months, so good luck getting rid of him. You do at least have 18-year-old hotshot Ademola Lookman, but it’s only a matter of time before you’re forced to sell. On the plus side, the squad is a little bloated so there’s scope to offload players where possible; meanwhile, you’ll have a strong academy and good coaches with which to blood the next generation. Good luck, though – you’ll need it.
7. Sheffield United (League One)
Perennial play-off failures Sheffield United go into their sixth consecutive League One campaign having finished in the top six for three of the previous five campaigns. The 2015/16 season was their worst yet, though (11th), so your task is to arrest that decline. But there’s money to spend (£300k) and enough left for wages (£10k) – probably enough for two very good arrivals to boost your ranks.
8. Blackpool (League Two)
Successive relegations have put Blackpool back in the fourth tier for the first time since 2001 – but getting them back up at the first time of asking looks well within reach. Thankfully you won’t have to work with Karl Oyston in real life, there’s £5.5k per week remaining for wages (in context: your highest earner is on £1.8k p/w) and £50k in the pot for transfers. Your squad is already better than most at this level: the likes of Tom Aldred, Danny Pugh, Mark Yeates are experienced, and new striker Jamille Matt had a fine loan spell at Plymouth in 2015/16. Hot prospect Bright Osayi-Samuel is an exciting proposition too.
9. Plymouth (League Two)
Devon’s zig-zagging club have threatened promotion for two seasons running now, having sunk like a stone from a 10th-placed Championship finish in 2007/08. Can you help push them closer to those heights again? Resources are on the lower side for League Two level – you’re only £2k per week off a modest £30k wage budget, and won’t have any cash to spend on incoming stars. But you do have a good squad and assistant manager, plus two excellent prospects in Jordan Bentley (17) and Ben Purrington (20). Luke McCormick is one of the league’s best keepers, while strikers David Goodwillie and Jordan Slew both once joined Blackburn for a combined £3m.
Next: A fun foreign challenge like no other...10. RB Leipzig (Bundesliga)
Germany’s most disliked team are one of the most exciting to manage. Their youthful squad is packed with promise thanks to some big forward planning (and spending) in the lower leagues, and their academy is the envy of its rivals. You’ll get almost £13m to spend on new talent and £74k per week for wages, and board expectations are ludicrously low: just avoid relegation and reach the third round of the German Cup, all while playing attacking football and promoting the kids.
11. Borussia Mönchengladbach (Bundesliga)
It might be too big an ask to win silverware with Gladbach, but they offer up an immensely fun squad that earned Champions League football again last season. There’s loads of cash left for wages (£77k p/w) and £10.3m should be enough for you to add to the talent pool, but in truth you might be worth focusing on untapped potential with one eye on the future. Basic board expectations are Europa League qualification and German Cup quarter-finals, which are hardly unrealistic.
12. Athletic Bilbao (La Liga)
Only being able to sign Basque players may get tiresome after a while, but it’s a fun gimmick for Football Manager purposes that you should probably have a crack at. It’ll naturally put a huge emphasis on your academy, but should you need money there’s £8.6m to spend and £35k per week left for wages. You’ll be expected to qualify for the Europa League, reach at least the semis of this year’s edition and the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. No pressure.
13. Valencia (La Liga)
Well, come on: you can’t do much worse than poor G-Nev. After flopping miserably in the Champions League and finishing 12th last season, it’ll be your job to make Valencia worthy of Europe once more. You’ll be given almost £13m and a £1.34m-per-week wage budget to get the job done, but realistically you’ll have to sell before you buy. There’s plenty of promise in the first team – Joao Cancelo, Jose Gaya, Fede Cartabia, Zakaria Bakkali, Rodrigo and Santi Mina all start the game wanted by other clubs – but not much beyond that. Europa League football is expected.
Next: "Hello... sorry, forgotten your name"14. Marseille (Ligue 1)
Last season’s 13th-placed finish was bitterly disappointing for l’OM, so they’re prepared to back you with £30m and a generous wage bill to make sure they don’t go without European football again. You’ve got fine coaches and scouts to beef up a squad in need of more depth, plus capable Ligue 1 performers in the likes of Lassana Diarra, Florian Thauvin, Clinton N’Jie, Remy Cabella and Hiroki Sakai. Your job is to make them a team.
15. and 16. Milan, Inter (Serie A)
Do we really need to say why? Up for grabs: god-like status at two fallen giants who’ve badly underperformed in recent seasons. At Milan you’ll need to sell before you buy, but more pertinent is the crop of excellent youngsters at your disposal: Gianluigi Donnarumma (17), Alessio Romagnoli (21), Mattia De Sciglio (23), M’Baye Niang (21) and Manuel Locatelli (18). Only European qualifications matter to Milan’s board, expectations which are raised at Inter where a return to the Champions League counts most.
17. Sao Paulo (Brazilian Serie A)
Thanks to the Brazilian league system being spread over two formats and a calendar year, you’ll start your new game a year behind (in November 2015). Starting with Sao Paulo is a good test: fun in that you’ll get to experience the Copa Libertadores, and see which wonderkids you can bring through from a famously strong academy. Player turnover is ludicrous – the season starts with the team having brought in 15 players on loan and chucked another 13 out themselves – so your first task is working out who’s worthy of game time and otherwise. Can you manage the sheer volume of players that Brazilian football will throw at you?
More Football Manager 2017
What’s it like to scout for Football Manager? A Sports Interactive expert tells FFT
Remembered! The best Football Manager wonderkids of all time
Who to start with on Football Manager 2017? EVERY English league team's starting transfer and wage budget
Football Manager 2017: Starting transfer and wage budgets in La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1
Miles Jacobson: How we make Football Manager, the future – and where YOU come into it
Football Manager 2017 review – definitely more than just a football game
Football Manager 2017 tips: how to master the new game
More gaming on FourFourTwo.com
featureFri, 04 Nov 2016 15:31:42 +0000Joe Brewin646811 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comIn the mag: Inside Pep's Man City! Fergie: untold stories! Women's football: banned!Get your hands on the latest edition ofFourFourTwomagazine availablein print, andon iPad and iPhonefrom Wednesday November 2.http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/mag-inside-peps-man-city-fergie-untold-stories
The FourFourTwo team first discussed running a Manchester City cover at the start of last season, to follow up our September 2010 story with the club. Six years ago, the Blues were looking to win their first Premier League title and establish themselves among the elite group of English clubs. With both achieved, we wanted to know what was next. Last season, though, with the first team underperforming in the league and the future of manager Manuel Pellegrini unclear, going back didn't feel quite right.
Then a few things happened. City's U16 and U14 teams enjoyed 9-0 wins over Manchester United and Liverpoolrespectively; Manchester City Women secured a league (their first) and cup Double, and –ah yes, they brought in Pep Guardiola. So we went behind the scenes with some of City's top stars, including Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Steph Houghton to find out more about the Citizens' plan for global domination.
What we found was a project on a scale we'd never seen before; one that has ramifications for almost everyone –including the English national side. Whether you support City or not, this is a (developing) story you need to read.
Banned
In 1921, the FA declared football "quite unsuitable for females" and outlawed the sport. The ban lasted until 1971. As Carrie Dunn explains, for 50 years women found a way to play –but the game struggled to recover. This could be the dawning of a new golden age for women's football, though. All the more reason to be sure to remember the struggles of those involved in shaping the game...
Where have the English gaffers gone?
Once, they were at the forefront of the world game. Now, only four Englishmen are coaching a team in their own nation's top flight. FFT asks if there's any way back...
Educating Southampton
The perception is that young footballers don't even know what school is. That's not the case on the south coast. In fact, a visit to Southampton's academy shows us that it's quite the opposite: some clubs value progress in the classroom as highly as effort on the pitch...
Fergie: the untold stories
Everyone knows Alex Ferguson's 26 years with Manchester United brought trophies, racehorses and squeaky bums – but what else? Three decades after arriving at Old Trafford, we reveal 30 insider tales.
One-on-One: Tony Cascarino
Tony Cascarino has always been a bit different. During a life where he has experiences an armed robbery, fights with police and aborted careers as both a builder and a hairdresser, the former striker was a classic football hardman who was once asked by one of his managers to stop wearing mascara. Speaking to FFT in a south London restaurant, Cascarino is entertaining and brutally honest as he answers your questions on his unique career...
The Talking Point: European Super League
This month, FFT's resident columnistRory Smithtackles the European Super League, and why the big clubs must learn the hard way that they can't have it all.
Plymouth's reserves
After an aggressive response to the decision allowing Premier League U23 sides to face Football League teams, FFT asks how Plymouth's reserves are being treated as the only professional second-string side in the pyramid. Hint: not that well.
Unsung heroes
Star players draw big salaries, but a club is nothing without its staff behind the scene. FFT meets five of the English game's most loyal servants from Oldham, Burnley, Ipswich, West Bromwich Albionand Stevenage, boasting 230 years of service between them.
Performance Masterclass
Southampton strikerCharlie Austin talks tricking defenders and finishing with aplomb with us in this month's Performance masterclass.
Got your copy of the new FourFourTwo? Tweet us@FourFourTwo#MyFFT.
The December 2016 issue of FourFourTwo was brought to you by: Pep Guardiola, Kevin De Bruyne, Steph Houghton, Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Claudio Bravo, Tony Cascarino, Jaap Stam, Gheorge Hagi, Harry Redknapp, Hulk, Lee Sharpe, Paul Parker, Dion Dublin, Danny Higginbotham, Gary Pallister, Charlie Nicholas, Peter Reid, Tony Pulis, Luke Chadwick, Paul Scholes, Charlie Austin, John Terry, Nathan Thomas, Mike Summerbee, Omar Berrada, Brian Marwood, Jason Wilcox, Carrie Dunn, Rory Smith, Gail Newsham, Sylvia Gore, Sue Lopez, Frank Wormuth, Sean Dyche, Jamie Carragher, Jamie Robinson, Matt Hale, Keven Batchelor, Mark Gardner, Toby Redwood, Joe Say, Amy Spence, Chris Turner, Viv Anderson, Patrick Barclay, Andy Mitten, David May, Nick Littlehales, Bill Beswick, Mick Clegg, Phil Lafferty, Dave Deacon, Paul Hendy, Phil Hiscox, Warren Patmore, Kevin Nancekivell, Jeff Cooper, Fordon Lawton, Jim Thompson, Pat Godbold, Rob Lane, Keith Berners, Alan Roberts, Max Reckers, Nigel Mitchell and Ted Munson.
Available from November 2in print,on iPad and iPhoneorsubscribe to FourFourTwo here!
featureTue, 01 Nov 2016 14:06:00 +0000Harriet Drudge645374 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comWho to start with on Football Manager 2017? EVERY English league team's starting transfer and wage budgetNot sure who to begin your shiny new game of Football Manager 2017 with? Let us be your financial guides...http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/who-start-football-manager-2017-every-english-league-teams-starting-transfer-and-wage
Time to kiss goodbye to your social life, put relationships at risk, disconnect yourself from that awful real world everybody talks about and settle down in darkness: Football Manager is back for 2017. Hooray and yippee indeed.
The full game is released on November 4, but until then there's a perfectly good beta version out there to get familiar with Sports Interactive's latest release. You might well kick off that first game with your own beloved team, but many of you prefer the challenge of more unfamiliar climes.
If you're unsure, here's what you'll be getting from the board at first. (Of course, these digits are always subject to change depending on how brave you feel about asking for more/upping your seasonal targets.)
Premier League
Particularly tasty pickings forTottenham, with the league's biggest starting transfer kitty and a lot of wiggle room with wages too.SouthamptonandSwanseaare both ripe for transforming into Europe-chasing sides with weighty warchests, and you can aim high with Evertonthanks to £45m worth of Farhad Moshiri's hard-earned.
Team
Transfer budget
Wage budget
Arsenal
£39.4m
£3m (£2.4m start)
Bournemouth
£3.6m
£885k (£800k start)
Burnley
£10m
£582k (£525k start)
Chelsea
£40m
£2.98m (£2.7m start)
Crystal Palace
£10.6m
£1.4m (£1.3m start)
Everton
£45m
£1.56m (£1.4m start)
Hull
£6m
£699k (£675k start)
Leicester
£9.5m
£1.59m (£1.4m start)
Liverpool
£40m
£2.78m (£2.3m start)
Manchester City
£28.9m
£3.65m (£3.4m start)
Manchester United
£31.3m
£4m (£3.7m start)
Middlesbrough
£3m
£1m (£1m start)
Southampton
£31m
£1.49m (£1.2m start)
Stoke
£9.5m
£1.29m (£1.1m start)
Sunderland
£12m
£1.04m (£1m start)
Swansea
£23.6m
£1.2m (£1.1m start)
Tottenham
£50m
£1.87m (£1.5m start)
Watford
£8m
£1.05m (£950k start)
West Brom
£9.7m
£1m start (£850k start)
West Ham
£6m
£1.44m (£1.4m start)
Championship
Fancy a challenge? Just check out what poorBurtonare up against. If you're all about the money, money, money thenNorwichare for you: £10m to blow on new players, and plenty left in the wage tank to lure them in. There's scope to turnBristolCity(£5.5m budget) into promotion candidates too, while atAston Villayou'll have to sell some players if you want the cash for transfers. There's an ample wage budget, though, so it's probably worth it.
Team
Transfer budget
Wage budget
Aston Villa
£0
£952k (£850k start)
Barnsley
£1m
£111k (£100k start)
Birmingham
£500k
£176k (£170k start)
Blackburn
£300k
£287k (£245k start)
Brentford
£500k
£172k (£165k start)
Brighton
£4.5m
£375k (£350k)
Bristol City
£5.5m
£222k (£200k start)
Burton
£150k
£67k (£61k start)
Cardiff
£1.2m
£435k (£425k start)
Derby
£4m
£530k (£500k)
Fulham
£400k
£352k (£350k start)
Huddersfield
£1m
£222k (£205k start)
Ipswich
£500k
£217k (£205k start)
Leeds
£100k
£243k (£200k start)
Newcastle
£5m
£1.14m (£1m start)
Norwich
£10m
£828k (£700k start)
Nottingham Forest
£500k
£339k (325k start)
Preston
£500k
£179k (£165k start)
QPR
£1m
£402k (£363k start)
Reading
£3m
£393k (£375k start)
Rotherham
£250k
£140k (£135k start)
Sheff Weds
£2m
£530k (£500k)
Wigan
£1m
£257k (£250k)
Wolves
£2.5m
£445k (£425k start)
League One
Oh dear,Charlton. The first thing you'll have to do is trim the wage outgoings, and badly – you're already £32k per week in the hole. Good luck with that. Unsurprisingly, transfer budgets are thin on the ground in the third tier:Peterborough and Sheffield Unitedstart with nice kitties from which to pull money from, while atMillwallyou'll find a surprisingly nice honey pot for wages.
Team
Transfer budget
Wage budget
AFC Wimbledon
£175k
£36k (£37k start)
Bolton
£0
£183k (£180k start)
Bradford
£50k
£67k (£64k start)
Bristol Rovers
£25k
£73k (£69k start)
Bury
£0
£51k (£49k start)
Charlton
£0
£128k (£160k start)
Chesterfield
£100k
£48k (£45k start)
Coventry
£0
£65k (£66k start)
Fleetwood
£10k
£55k (£47k start)
Gillingham
£50k
£82k (£77k start)
Millwall
£0
£93k (£89k start)
MK Dons
£50k
£82k (£77k start)
Northampton
£0
£44k (£45k start)
Oldham
£0
£47k (£44k start)
Oxford
£0
£50k (£52k start)
Peterborough
£400k
£76k (£72k start)
Port Vale
£66k
£47k (£44k start)
Rochdale
£40k
£38k (£35k start)
Scunthorpe
£100k
£65k (£60k start)
Sheffield United
£300k
£113k (£105k start)
Shrewsbury
£20k
£44k (£41k start)
Southend
£75k
£55k (£53k start)
Swindon
£150k
£62k (£58k start)
Walsall
£100k
£35k (£32k start)
League Two
With the lowest wage budget in England's top four divisions, you'll have your work cut out attracting the players you want at Cheltenham. It's a similar story atMorecambe, but at least there you'll start with some room to snaffle a free transfer or two to bolster the ranks. The outlook is kind if you're looking to restorePortsmouthto their former glories, with easily League Two's biggest transfer (£150k) and wage (£65k per week) budgets.
Team
Transfer budget
Wage budget
Accrington Stanley
£0
£28k (£27k start)
Barnet
£10k
£30k (£29k start)
Blackpool
£50k
£40k (£35k start)
Cambridge
£100
£36k (£35k start)
Carlisle
£63k
£31k (£28k start)
Cheltenham
£0
£20k (£19k start)
Colchester
£20k
£54k (£52k start)
Crawley
£10k
£29k (£27k start)
Crewe
£30k
£29k (£27k start)
Doncaster
£50k
£56k (£53k start)
Exeter
£0
£32k (£29k start)
Grimsby
£10k
£32k (£28k start)
Hartlepool
£25k
£30k (£29k start)
Leyton Orient
£0
£52k (£49k start)
Luton
£70k
£48k (£45k start)
Mansfield
£25k
£37k (£33k start)
Morecambe
£0
£22k (£18k start)
Newport County
£20k
£25k (£23k start)
Notts County
£75k
£45k (£44k start)
Plymouth
£0
£30k (£28k start)
Portsmouth
£150k
£65k (£59k start)
Stevenage
£10k
£46k (£40k start)
Wycombe
£0
£30k (£30k start)
Yeovil
£0
£24k (£24k start)
More Football Manager 2017
What’s it like to scout for Football Manager? A Sports Interactive expert tells FFT
Remembered! The best Football Manager wonderkids of all time
Football Manager 2017: Starting transfer and wage budgets in La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1
Miles Jacobson: How we make Football Manager, the future – and where YOU come into it
Football Manager 2017 review – definitely more than just a football game
Football Manager 2017 tips: how to master the new game
17 teams we can’t wait to be on Football Manager 2017
More gaming on FourFourTwo.com
featureThu, 27 Oct 2016 12:06:25 +0000Joe Brewin643244 at http://www.fourfourtwo.com10 chuckles you might have missed this week: Mpenza's viagra, invading koalas and a teddy bear showerFootball is wonderful, but without social media so many incidents would go under the radar. Heres our best picks of the week for your pleasure...http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/10-things-you-might-have-missed-week-mpenzas-viagra-invading-koalas-and-a-teddy-bear-shower
1. Mpenza’s morning glory
In Paul Sturrock’s biography, the former Plymouth Argyle manager offers a hilarious tale about ex-Manchester City striker Emile Mpenza.
Paul Sturrock on Emile Mpenzas time at Plymouth pic.twitter.com/Kfn3MWyWSH Dunc McKay (@DuncMcKay) September 15, 2016
2. Teddy bear shower
Eredivisie club Den Haag rained teddy bears on a group of children from a local cancer hospital.
3. A koala-ty player
FFTisn't sure if this cuddly critter thought he was a sub or not, but he certainly seems to evade his marker well.
Just a koala on a soccer pitch pic.twitter.com/PUl4ffaKhJ Storyful Viral (@StoryfulViral) September 12, 2016
4. Injured Rose plays a blinder
Despite being injured, Danny Rose clinched the left-back spot in Metro’s Team of the Week.
Danny Rose did well to make the Metro Team of the Week. He played 0 minutes contributing at both ends pic.twitter.com/0UZp75sMte FootyInformer.com (@FootyInformer) September 12, 2016
5. Sarcastic strecher
Plaza Colonia goalkeeperKevin Dawson was so irritated by an opposition player’s time-wasting antics, he fetched a stretcher for him. He was rewarded with a yellow card.
Plaza Colonia GK cautioned for rushing a stretcher to his time-wasting opponents. He only wanted to help... #uruguay pic.twitter.com/O4styUFHbD Martin da Cruz (@martindacruz_) September 12, 2016
6. Tears for Totti
While scientists work out whether Francesco Totti will ever retire, he continues to win games for Roma –and make their fans cry.
Francesco #Tottis injury-time penalty winner was just too much for this young fan! #RomaSamp pic.twitter.com/kQYxikGVc7 AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) September 11, 2016
RECOMMENDEDThe long read: Francesco Totti – Rome's greatest son who never got the love he deserved
7. John Hart debuts as Torino falter
The saga of Joe Hart's future came to a bizarre conclusion as England’s No.1 moved to Torino. Looking for a fresh start in Italy, Hart got anything but that. After first being referred to as ‘John Hart’ in the official teamsheet, he duly blundered for the first goal in a 2-1 defeat and lost his first game in Turin.
John Hart starts in goal for Torino. Disappointing for Joe those who came to see him make his debut. pic.twitter.com/T9Au2mrkzO Matt Barlow (@Matt_Barlow_DM) September 11, 2016
8. Batshuayi trolls EA
Having assisted nine goals last season, Chelsea hitman Michy Batshuayi expressed his displeasure at his FIFA stats before the game’s demo release this week. EA responded with “Practice makes perfect”, before Chelsea’s Belgian joked he was going to download PES in protest. Maybe it's not actually the worst idea.
@EASPORTSFIFA *downloading PES* Michy Batshuayi (@mbatshuayi) September 14, 2016
9. Flipping bottles
Marco Verratti headed for the changing rooms earlier than others when he was sent off after an altercation with Olivier Giroud. Not a lot of people remember it, though, because his expert bottle flip went viral instead.
10. French Forest
After Nottingham Forest announced the recent signing of Nicklas Bendtner, fans must have been wondering what was next when boss Philippe Montanier brought another new asset to his press conference on Friday. Alas, it was no more than a wide assortment of cheese. Délicieux!
#NFFC head coach Philippe Montanier brought a selection of cheeses with him to this morning’s pre-match brie-fing. pic.twitter.com/JvkMIqXGQe Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) September 16, 2016
New features on FourFourTwo.com every day• More gigglesfeatureFri, 16 Sep 2016 15:20:48 +0000Ben Clark627640 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comInfographic: Is your club in its "rightful place"?Are your lot batting above or below their average? Mike Holden has crunched the numbers for the definitive answer...Mike Holdenhttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/infographic-your-club-its-rightful-place
You can tell it’s August by the number of players, supporters and journalists using the phrase “rightful place” –usually when clubs are perceived to have spent time finishing somewhat below their hypothetical station
The only way to judge historical “rightfulness” is to check historical data. According to popular cultural reference tool the Bible, the human lifespan is “Three score and 10” –70 years, in more modern terms.
It therefore seems a suitable yardstick for a comparative analysis of the current 92 English league clubs based on their aggregate finishing position in post-war times – 70 seasons in total. This FFT study is purely objective: teams are scored on their aggregate finishing position from 1-92 across those 70 seasons (any season spent in non-league or non-existence ranks as 100). The lower a club's aggregate score, the better.
But life moves on and time is unforgiving. What happened last season is more relevant than what happened 20 years ago and what happened 20 years ago is more relevant than what happened 20 years before that. Then again, sample sizes also matter – for example, one league title success doesn’t mean Leicester are suddenly bigger than Liverpool.
So it’s only right we weight performance in accordance with generational cycles. Therefore, the scores are weighted in descending 20-year cycles. So scores since 1997 have a value of 1.0, between 1977 and 1996 the value is doubled, between 1957 and 1976 the value is trebled and the first decade after World War II (1947-1956) is multiplied by four.
There’s plenty to see in the accompanying graphics dotted through the piece, including where your boys "should" be. Having studied the findings in detail, here’s what FFT considered to be the most salient points raised…
Money preserves the status quo
Last season’s Premier League narrative centred on an ‘unprecedented’ level of unpredictability, but the historical top seven –Man United,Arsenal,Liverpool,Tottenham,Everton,ChelseaandMan City– all finished in the top 11, the same as the season before.
Indeed, had Leicester and Chelsea not swapped scripts beforehand, the storyline would barely have been remarkable at all: just a slightly stronger Spurs than usual replacing a slightly under-par –but still top-five –Manchester United.
In the five seasons between August 2009 and May 2014, the top seven all finished in the top eight places every year, three times filling the top seven. Over the past decade, a historical top-seven club has only finished outside the top eight on six occasions (out of 70 possibilities).
Leicester: hardly minnows
Without wishing to detract from last season’s extraordinary Premier League success, the narrative went a little overboard in its illustration of Leicester as historical nobodies.
The honours list might be modest but the Foxes are certainly top-flight material over the EPL era; over the entire post-war period (see graphic below) they have been steady middleweights, spending 35 seasons in the top flight and all but one of the other 35 in the second tier. Their aggregate post-war finishing position is similar to Sunderland, one of the clubs most frequently described as being underachieving.
Indeed, had it not been for the intervention of a certain Brian Clough in the 1970s, Leicester would be head and shoulders above both of their East Midlands rivals. As it is, they currently share equal billing with Nottingham Forest, although events of the past 12 months put them in a strong position to kick on in the next 20-year cycle to leave their two nearest rivals trailing in their wake.
Wolves: the ultimate sleeping giant
They might have done very little of note for the past 35 years but an objective study like this, even when weighted in favour of recency, serves only to illustrate what a big club Wolves really are – and why their supporters tend to be more disgruntled by mediocrity than most.
After the war, the Black Country outfit spent 33 of the next 36 seasons competing in the top flight, winning three titles under Stan Cullis in the 1950s, and completing top-six finishes on 11 other occasions between 1947 and 1963. But not since 1980 have they hit their par ranking of tenth in the country.
With the club now owned by a Chinese conglomerate pledging to invest the sort of money which could catapult the Old Gold back into the big time, younger generations might wish to make a mental note of this track record before embarrassing themselves with the usual jibes about a lack of class or history...
Sheffield Wednesday: the forgotten club
Football fans of a certain age might be shocked to see Sheffield Wednesday residing outside the top 20, but it just goes to show how quickly time flies – the Owls have been absent from the Premier League for 16 years now.
Of the 23 clubs who have totted up three decades or more at the highest level since the war, only Wolves (19 seasons, 1983-2003) have experienced a longer top-flight exile. The Steel City club have also attracted foreign investment, though, and hopes are high that Carlos Carvalhal will be the man who finally put an end to the prolonged drought.
Geography matters
People have often speculated about what would happen if the two Sheffield clubs merged, as if the combined might of Wedensday and United would create a new superpower to rival the big clubs in Manchester, Merseyside or London. But such speculation might be missing the point.
Outside of the six biggest regions – the aforementioned three, West Midlands, North-East and East Midlands – only Leeds and Stoke (with respect to Port Vale) are stand-alone entities in the top overall 20. After that, you’ve got the Sheffield duo neck and neck, followed by Lancashire rivals Burnley, Bolton and Blackburn.
Clubs who share geographical hotbeds are generally positioned close to one another in the rankings, and usually higher than one-city clubs of similar size and potential. It stands to reason: even when league titles or promotions aren’t up for grabs, local pride drives them on to outdo their rivals.
Hampshire: the unhealthiest of rivalries
As if to hammer the point home, look no further than Southampton and Portsmouth, who really need to spend more time together. The two clubs (combined) have spent 60 seasons in the top flight and 59 seasons in the second tier, yet bizarrely they’ve only spent six seasons in the same division over the past 60 years.
They sit 23rd and 29th respectively in the historical chart and naturally ridicule each other by virtue of which team is competing at the higher level in any given era. Conversely, they would arguably both be comfortable top 20 clubs if they crossed paths more often.
More infographics • More analysis
More features every day at FourFourTwo.comfeatureFri, 05 Aug 2016 14:13:10 +0000Gary Parkinson609737 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comPenalty woes for Everton, Gray treble inspires Burnley at IbroxPremier League sides enjoyed mixed friendly fortunes as Everton were pipped by Real Betis, Burnley downed Rangers and Watford lost to QPR.http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/penalty-woes-everton-gray-treble-inspires-burnley-ibrox
Everton were beaten 4-3 by Real Betis on penalties in the Dresden Cup on a day when Andre Gray stepped up his preparations for life in the Premier League with a pre-season hat-trick against Rangers.
Conor Grant and Kieran Dowell both missed in the shoot-out for Ronald Koeman's side, who had been gifted the lead in normal time by an Aissa Mandi own-goal ahead of German Pezzella's equaliser.
Sunderland were also held to a 1-1 draw in their friendly against Montpellier, Fabio Borini putting the English side ahead in Aix-les-Bains only for Souleymane Camara to level.
Charlie Austin's late header proved enough to seal victory for Southampton over Groningen, who had Hans Hateboer sent off seven minutes before the break.
Bournemouth also earned a 1-0 success, club-record signing Jordon Ibe curling home what proved to be the winner against Cardiff City after only 12 minutes.
There was better news for Cardiff's arch-rivals Swansea City, for whom winger Wayne Routledge scored twice in a 4-0 win at Wolves, with the home side seemingly doing little to impress new boss Walter Zenga as he watched on from the stands.
New signings Alvaro Negredo and Viktor Fischer were both on target as Middlesbrough beat Aston Villa 3-1 at Villa Park, while Gray netted a treble as Burnley won by the same scoreline at Rangers.
Elsewhere, there were defeats for top-flight duo Crystal Palace and Watford at Fulham and QPR respectively.
Sone Aluko, Matt Smith and Floyd Ayite all found the net for Fulham in their 3-1 win, while Northern Ireland international Conor Washington scored the second of QPR's goals as they ran out 2-0 victors at Loftus Road.
A brace from Norway international Adama Diomande saw Hull City edge out Nottingham Forest 2-1, while West Brom were held to a 0-0 draw by League Two's Plymouth Argyle.
news_articleSat, 30 Jul 2016 20:47:44 +0000Anonymous607622 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comAFC Wimbledon 2 Plymouth Argyle 0: Dons reach the third tierGoals from Lyle Taylor and Adebayo Akinfenwa fired AFC Wimbledon into League One with a 2-0 play-off victory against Plymouth Argyle.http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/afc-wimbledon-2-plymouth-argyle-0-dons-reach-third-tier
AFC Wimbledon have been promoted to League One after goals from Lyle Taylor and Adebayo Akinfenwa helped them to a 2-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle in the League Two play-off final on Monday.
Just 13 years after the original Wimbledon club was relocated to Milton Keynes, the born-again outfit returned to the third tier and will now meet MK Dons next season.
Plymouth, too, had fought back from the brink of non-existence to reach this stage, but Taylor's 23rd strike of the campaign and a stoppage-time Akinfenwa penalty won the day.
After a scrappy first half of few chances, the second period began in similarly cagey fashion.
However, after the hour-mark, Plymouth finally exerted some pressure on the Wimbledon goal, as Kelle Roos saved from Graham Carey's free-kick and then Peter Hartley's unmarked header.
With 12 minutes remaining, though, Taylor grabbed the opening goal at the other end.
Nipping in front of the stooping Kelvin Mellor, the 26-year-old hooked a right-wing cross into the far corner to send the Dons' fans into delirium.
And Wimbledon kept the pressure up in the final stages, hunting a second, with Luke McCormick required to make stunning stops from Barry Fuller and substitute Akinfenwa.
In a mammoth spell of stoppage time, Plymouth had a hopeful penalty appeal waved away, before Taylor wasted a chance to put the result beyond doubt.
Finally, however, in the 100th minute, Akinfenwa grabbed the ball following a foul on Ade Azeez in the area, and calmly converted his spot-kick to maintain this incredible tale.
news_articleMon, 30 May 2016 16:47:32 +0000Anonymous580516 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comFootball League Play-offs Review: Hartley heartbreaker sinks PompeyPlymouth Argyle secured their place in the League Two play-off final, while it is advantage Millwall against Bradford City in League One.http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/football-league-play-offs-review-hartley-heartbreaker-sinks-pompey
Peter Hartley scored a dramatic stoppage-time header to send Plymouth Argyle to the League Two play-off final with a 1-0 win over Portsmouth.
Thursday's first leg had provided an entertaining 2-2 draw, but Sunday's return at Home Park proved a cagier affair, settled right at the death.
It looked as though Plymouth's chances of winning in normal time had gone when Jake Jervis sent a free header against the post a minute from the end.
Jamille Matt then saw his header tipped over by Pompey keeper Ryan Allsop, but from the resulting corner Hartley rose highest at the far post to nod home and send the Argyle faithful into delirium at the thought of a trip to Wembley.
In the League One play-offs, Millwall took a significant step towards the final by winning 3-1 at Bradford City in the first leg at Valley Parade.
Millwall fell behind to Tony McMahon's penalty, but turned it around thanks to Lee Gregory's fine finish, Steve Morison's powerful header and a stunning free-kick from Joe Martin.
Meanwhile, Grimsby Town will be back in the Football League next season after a 3-1 win over Forest Green Rovers in the National League play-off final at Wembley.
news_articleSun, 15 May 2016 19:15:47 +0000Anonymous573656 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comPortsmouth 2 Plymouth Argyle 2: Play-off tie perfectly poised after thrilling first-legA thrilling first leg of Portsmouth's League Two play-off against Plymouth Argyle ended 2-2 at Fratton Park thanks to Gary Roberts' penalty.http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/portsmouth-2-plymouth-argyle-2-play-tie-perfectly-poised-after-thrilling-first-leg
Gary Roberts' second-half penalty ensured a share of the spoils as the first leg of Portsmouth's League Two play-off tie with Plymouth ended 2-2.
After a frantic, end-to-end first half at Fratton Park, it was the hosts who dominated proceedings after the interval, but they were denied victory by a stubborn Plymouth outfit.
Portsmouth got off to a terrific start when Marc McNulty capitalised on Curtis Nelson's error by drilling in a low finish from the edge of the area just three minutes into the contest.
But their lead was short-lived, with Jamille Matt swiftly heading the visitors level before a tussle on the touchline resulted in both Portsmouth manager Paul Cook and Plymouth first-team coach Paul Wotton receiving their marching orders.
It was the visitors who struck next, with Matt – who had previously been lucky to escape punishment for a head-butt on Michael Doyle – converting with an overhead kick on 19 minutes.
Portsmouth eventually restored parity, though, as shortly after the interval, Roberts converted following a clumsy tackle in the area by Peter Hartley.
A thrilling second-half was capped off late on when Plymouth goalkeeper Luke McCormick pulled off a superb save to deny Ben Davies, while Gareth Evans went agonisingly close with a glancing header as Portsmouth failed to make their dominance count, meaning the sides head into the return leg at Home Park on level pegging.
news_articleThu, 12 May 2016 21:38:14 +0000Anonymous572198 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comThe truth behind the play-offs: late charges, relegation-form winners and 20% chaosWhat determines a play-off winner: form, big-match temperament, timing your run or sheer luck? Mike Holden crunches the numbers to bring you the maths behind the climax...Mike Holdenhttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/truth-behind-play-offs-late-charges-relegation-form-winners-and-20-chaos
Arguably English football's greatest innovation of the past 30 years, the Football League Play-Offs remain unrivalled for drama. Barring a tweak to the away-goals rule, the format hasn’t changed since 1990 – and why would it? The conditions are perfect for ding-dong battles and those breathtaking moments that punctuate the nerve-shredding tension. Year upon year, they deliver.
But so fine are the margins between success and failure, it’s easy to buy into the notion that there’s no rhyme or reason to who goes up and who stays down. “The play-offs are a lottery”: it’s one of football’s biggest cliches and biggest myths. Yes, chance plays a significant part. But the probabilities are never equal.
Over the past 26 seasons, there have been 78 play-off campaigns, involving 312 teams, playing 390 matches. And FFT has scrutinised the data to bring you the underlying patterns that indicate why some teams have a much better chance of promotion than others.
Consider the four participating teams as A, B, C and D (from highest league position to lowest), here’s what you need to know…
80% order, 20% chaos
(Key: Team A is in the highest play-off position, D the lowest. Green: winners, amber: runners-up, red: semi-finalists)
In the early years, a school of thought developed that teams who finished highest would invariably underperform – most probably because, while the sample size remained small, each instance of Team A failing to win promotion was highlighted as an injustice compared to the way things used to be.
In fact, the opposite is true: on the whole, Team A wins promotion roughly twice as often as everybody else. In 78 campaigns, Team A has triumphed 31 times (39.7%) compared with 17, 14 and 16 promotions for the other three teams respectively. Broadly speaking, that’s a 40-20-20-20 distribution. For every five campaigns, Team A will be promoted twice, everybody else once.
The 80/20 principle is another way of framing it, whereby we might conclude that the play-offs are 80% chaos and 20% order. If we take the 40% of Team A successes, you could argue that half of them (20%) are simply the upshot of Team A being overwhelmingly superior, while the other half (20%) are the result of chance (matching the probabilities of triumph for Teams B, C and D). Good news for Brighton, Walsall and Accrington, then.
Previous meetings count for little
Play-off results against teams beaten during the league season. Green: winners in play-off head-to-heads, red: losers
Another popular assumption is that one team has an advantage (be it psychological or tactical) over an opponent if they had the better head-to-head record during the regular season. This year, a prime example in the Championship would be the Derby-Hull semi-final: over the two league games, the Rams have won 6-0 on aggregate.
However, the stats suggest previous results have virtually no bearing. In 188 examples where one team boasted superiority on aggregate over two league games, they replicated that success only 95 times (50.5% – pretty much a coin-toss average).
When you break that data down by team, a more revealing picture begins to emerge. Similarly to the 80/20 principle above, Team A replicates head-to-head success more than 70% of the time, whereas for everyone else that figure is consistently around 40% – in other words, they're actually more likely to lose than to win. So while Team A might be expected to repeat their triumph over the opponents they bested during the regular season, for Teams B, C and D a positive head-to-head might be considered a bad omen. Not so fast, Derby fans.
NEXT: How important are form and big-match pedigree– and how late interlopers do well in the finalDisastrous form is no disaster
Another statement made so often that it has passed into accepted wisdom is that it's always the team in the best form that wins the play-offs. The figures show that it's simply not true– and there have been examples of the opposite being the case.
There’s no doubt psychology plays a significant role at the end of a gruelling 46-game season, but too much is made of ‘momentum’ – a concept that’s almost impossible to capture by any form of objective measurement. There is a pattern of success in accordance with late flourishes, but the difference is so slight as to be rendered almost meaningless.
How form over last 10 games affects play-off success. Green: winners, amber: runners-up, red: semi-finalists
Intriguingly, though, there’s a small sample where teams have effectively gone into the play-offs in relegation form – taking fewer than 10 points from the final 10 matches – and they’ve performed no worse than chance. Of the 12 such instances, three teams have been promoted (Blackburn 1992, Grimsby 1998, Crystal Palace 2014) and three have finished runners-up.
The obvious explanation here is that expectations become so low as the regular season draws to a close, the pressure on the players is almost non-existent. The prize on offer is no less attractive, yet the ‘no-hopers’ are able to approach their games with freedom.
Not that this has much bearing on this season's hopefuls, none of whom have exactly stumbled into the play-offs: Plymouth are in the worst form with 16 points from the last 30, Brighton and Accrington in fine fettle with 24.
Big-match pedigree matters
How form against promotion rivals affects play-off success. Green: winners, amber: runners-up, red: semi-finalists
A team’s chances of a Wembley promotion are sometimes dismissed on the grounds of inconsistency, where silly results against weaker opposition deem them unreliable. But this isn’t a trait to be overly concerned about here because such teams, by definition, tend to have stronger records against the bigger teams – and that's what really matters in the play-offs.
When measuring teams by their results against the three other play-off contenders and those already promoted via the automatic places, the data shows that there’s a threshold of around 1.7 points per game where the probability of promotion shoots up from 25% to 33% and continues to rise.
On average, three teams will fall into this category every two years and, if we assume that inconsistency results from a lack of intensity or concentration in mundane fixtures, it stands to reason that these teams should invariably make their class advantage tell with focus sharpened in the knockout format.
This season, there are two contenders who have excelled against rivals: Barnsley have averaged 1.9ppg and Pompey 1.75, with Sheffield Wednesday (0.7) and Wimbledon (0.83) doing the worst –during the regular-season six-pointers.
Late interlopers rule (in the end)
How time in the play-off zone affects play-off success. Green: winners, amber: runners-up, red: semi-finalists
Finally, beware of the free spirit. Late interlopers who gatecrash the Play-Offs in the final few weeks of the season appear to have a psychological advantage over those who have wrestled with the pressure of a promotion race for most of the campaign. But curiously, it’s a phenomenon that doesn’t rear its head until the final.
In 52 instances where a team has occupied a play-off berth for fewer than 12 rounds after Christmas, only 23 have actually reached the final (44%). But out of those 23, a staggering 15 (65%) have clinched promotion at the Millennium Stadium or Wembley.
The best explanation, perhaps, is that the positive psychology stemming from this unexpected opportunity counts for little over two legs against superior opposition. But put those teams on the big stage in a one-off showpiece over 90 minutes, and the idea that destiny is somehow pre-ordained in their favour becomes much more relevant. Good news for gatecrashers Barnsley and Wimbledon.
More features every day at FourFourTwo.com
featureThu, 12 May 2016 11:16:09 +0000Gary Parkinson571120 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comTwenty-nine years of play-offs madness: The greatest moments from promotion showdownsRejoice, its that time of year when the domestic game goes gaga! Richard Edwardshonours the heroes, villains and, er, terriers from the Football Leagues grand finale...Richard Edwardshttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/twenty-nine-years-play-offs-madness-greatest-moments-promotion-showdowns
The never-ending story
Charlton vs Leeds, 1987
First/Second Division play-off final replay
“It was nearly mid-summer – we were sickof the sight of each other,” laughs Peter Shirtliff, whose goals maintained Charlton’s top-flight status and consigned Leeds to another season of misery in the second tier.
It was the third time the teams had met in a week, after cancelling each other out over two legs at Selhurst Park and Elland Road. But the replay at Birmingham’s St Andrews would be winner takes all – although for Charlton their 2-1 extra-time victory meant nothing sexier than avoiding relegation, such was the original format. “When the final whistle blew the main feeling was relief,” says Shirtliff. Not just for the players...
Shots silence Wolves
Wolves vs Aldershot, 1987
Third/Fourth Division play-off final
It should have been the play-off mis-match to end all play-off mis-matches, but unbelievably Aldershot handed out a thorough beating to bottom-tier big guns Wolves, winning both legs to secure a famous 3-0 aggregate triumph. They had beaten another Premier League club, Bolton Wanderers, in the semi-final.
I predict a riot
Chelsea vs Middlesbrough, 1988
First/Second Division play-off final
This would be the second and last time ateam from the top division would have to enter the play-offs to avoid the drop – andfor good reason. “It was the most poisonous atmosphere I’ve ever seen,” says Eric Paylor, senior football reporter at Middlesbrough’sEvening Gazette.
“The expectation at Chelsea was incredibly high that they would wallop these Second Division upstarts and retain theirplace in the First Division without too many problems.”
After a 2-1 aggregate defeat left Chelsea relegated, though, the major issue facing the Boro fans was survival of a very different kind to that which the Blues had failed to achieve. “At the final whistle the
Shed End just emptied and ran towards the Boro fans,” says Paylor. “If they had got over the fence there would have been casualties.It would have taken football back to the dark ages.”
Fortunately the North Stand defences held and 45 minutes later, at an almostempty Stamford Bridge, the Boro players emerged to celebrate in their pants – their shirts and shorts having been covered inurine thrown from the stands. Lovely.
30-second warning
Newcastle vs Sunderland, 1990
Second Division play-off semi-final, second leg
“We were concerned they’dtry to get it abandoned,” recalled Sunderland’s Gary Owers, who was wearing the dangerous colours of red and white inside the cauldron of hate that was St James’ Park on a late May evening in 1990. Sunderland had taken a 2-0 lead and were on their way to the final when ref George Courtney informed the players that he would give thema signal when 30 seconds of the derby remained, to ensure they escaped before all hell broke loose. “He [Courtney] was cool as a cucumber,” said Owers. “He said not to worry because we’d finish the game, even if it took until 2am.” In the end Courtney was first down the tunnel, followed by 11 petrified but jubilant Wearsiders.
Every loser wins
Sunderland vs Swindon, 1990
Second Division play-off final
It took just 10 days for Swindon Town’s world to implode. Ossie Ardiles – his knees presumably “all trembly” – had led the Robins to a famous 1-0 triumph over Sunderland at Wembley, but before long the pride of Wiltshire weren’t contemplating glory in the top flight but life in the Third Division after the FA relegated them twice for sanctioning illegal payments (although they were later allowed to remain in the Second Division after appealing). The club’s leading scorer, Steve White, described it as a “devastating blow”, but Sunderland didn’t care – they were upwithout even winning a game.
Wheels come off the cambridge bandwagon
Cambridge vs Leicester, 1992
Second Division play-off semi-final
“That was some side,” recalls a misty-eyed Steve Claridge of his days at Cambridge United under the unorthodox and unpopular John Beck. The U's had sprinted through the leagues under Beck and were well placed to become founder members of the Premier Leagueas the likes of Claridge, Dion Dublin andJohn Taylor propelled them to the play-offs. Leicester put paid to that dream, though, with a 6-1 aggregate hammering in the semi-finals. For Cambridge, life would never be the same again: just 13 years later the club was relegated from the Football League altogether.
Rovers give critics the bird
Blackburn vs Leicester, 1992
Second Division play-off final
Jason Wilcox was out injured for the match that took Jack Walker’s big-spending side back to the big time – but the left winger can at least claim a hand in their fortunate 1-0 win over Leicester at Wembley. “I walked out ontothe pitch in my suit and a bird messed down it,” he said.
“We had these bright yellow suits and I had this red and green stuff all over mine.I didn’t know whether it was good luck or bad luck. I guess it was good if you look at what followed for the club.” He’s notwrong. Blackburn and Wilcox never lookedback: they won 1-0and just three years later were celebratinga Premier League title. That success iswell-documented – the fate of the club’s feathered friend remains a mystery.
Den of despair
Millwall vs Derby, 1994
First Division play-off semi-final, second leg
It was a statto’s dream – interruptions totalling 33 minutes, 30 supporters ejected,20 arrests, two policemen injured and two pitch invasions. Oh, and Derby County won this second-tier (its name having changed to the First Division) semi 5-1 over two legs – hence the free-for-all in south-east London. “We feel like we’ve been through a war, not a football match,” said Derby’s Marco Gabbiadini after the club’s goalkeeper Martin Taylor was floored at the New Den. Despite the trouble Millwall chairman Reg Burr was clearly wearing his Arsene Wenger glasses, saying: “Yes I feel saddened but there was no violence that I saw. I don’t know anything about players being punched and kicked.”
“Sheer stupidity”
Stockport vs Burnley, 1994
Second Division play-off final
Stockport finished 12 points ahead of Burnley in the third tier but, crucially, the Clarets finished this ill-tempered Wembley with two more players on the pitch. “It was bizarre – sheer stupidity,” reflected County manager Danny Bergara who, after four Wembley defeats in three years, could have been forgiven for thinking his side were cursed. Michael Wallace and Chris Beaumont were given their marching orders before the hour mark and Burnley took advantage, securing their place in the then First Division with a 2-1 win.
Paying the penalty
Reading vs Bolton, 1995
First Division play-off final
For a club with no reserve team and no training ground, Reading were doing rather well after 12 minutes of their final against heavily-fancied Bolton. Having sprinted intoa 2-0 lead, promotion looked assured when Aussie Stuart Lovell stepped up to takea penalty on the half-hour. “Archie had the courage to step up, but the keeper saved it and the rest is history,” said former Royals skipper Ady Williams. “He was absolutely distraught and I have never seen anyone take something like that so personally.” Imagine how he felt, then, as Bruce Rioch’s Bolton came back and won the game in extra-time. Doubly galling for Royals was the fact that Reading had finished second in the league in the only season in living memory in which two – rather than three – sides were promoted, as the Premier League slimmed itself down from 22 to 20 teams. Gah.Big Kam vs Big Sam
Blackpool vs Bradford, 1996
Second Division play-off semi-final, second leg
For modern-day Sky subscribers Chris Kamara is a hysterical man with big hair, slick ’tache and a tendency for disbelief. Back in 1996 he was, believe it or not, a man with a big future in management.
Rumour has it that Kamara’s team talk before the second leg of Bradford’s play-off semi-final against Sam Allardyce’s Tangerines consisted of nothing more than the pinning up of a Blackpool programme that gave their fans bus times to get to Wembley for the final. It clearly worked: 2-0 down from the first leg, Bradford stormed to a 3-0 win to secure a first trip to the Twin Towers.
“We could have had five,” Kamara beamed. And Big Sam? Blackpool’s banged-up chairman Owen Oyston sacked him from his prison cell.
Mendonca magic
Sunderland vs Charlton, 1998
First Division play-off final
“I was a Sunderland fan – it’s funny the way it worked out,” said Clive Mendonca when describing a hat-trick that left guffaws in short supply on Wearside. In one of Wembley’s greatest ever games, a Mendonca-powered Charlton came back three times in a pulsating 4-4 draw before a sudden-death penalty shootout. Sunderland cracked first and, after 14 spot-kicks, Alan Curbishley’s Charlton were in the Premier League. Mendonca would score a hat-trick on the following season’s opening day, but would be forced to retire less than two years after his greatest triumph. The Black Cats’ Michael Gray was haunted by his missed kick for the rest of his career. “It was an iconic game but someone had to be the villain and it ended up being me.”
“If I’m totally honest I really didn’t want to take one. You always think the penalty shootout will be over after the first five picks but this just went on and on. When it comes to sudden death you look around and start thinking, ‘Who’s next?’ Niall Quinn took No.6, then I realised I was probably the elder statesman among the rest so I thought it was up to me. You feel confident walking up but then I changed my mind about 10 times before I took it. It wasn’t a great penalty – in fact, it was awful. I was devastated. I just stood there waiting for someone to come along and give me a hug.”
Adios, Orient
Scunthorpe vs Leyton Orient, 1999
Third Division play-off final
Scunny’s unlikely Spaniard, Alex Calvo Garcia, carved his name into Iron folklore with the winner in their bottom-tier final. He would later go on to write surely the most bizarrely titled Spanish book in history: Scunthorpe Hasta La Muerte (Scunthorpe ’Til I Die). After retiring he recalled: “The day of the match, I remember all those who went to London – about 15,000, a quarter of the population. But the best memory I have is the following day, seeing people with a big smile on their faces.” His goal put it there.
The great escape
Manchester City vs Gillingham, 1999
Second Division play-off semi-final
“The Gillingham fans were already singing ‘We are going up’ and half our fans had left,” recalls England rugby World Cup winner and Manchester City nut Will Greenwood. You could hardly blame either set of fans for assuming the die had been cast. Joe Royle’s side were 2-0 down in the last minute and staring another season in the third tier square in the face. Enter Kevin Horlock, who pulled one back, then Paul Dickov, who delivered the ultimate sucker punch four minutes into injury time. City would eventually win 3-1 on penalties. That United had won European football’s biggest prize just four days before mattered not. “I went through every emotion on that day,” says Greenwood. He wasn’t alone.
Bolton’s big break
Bolton vs Preston, 2001
First Division play-off final
David Moyes would be at Everton the following March, but his final stab at getting to the Prem with Preston was an unmitigated disaster. Bolton had lost out in the play-offs two years in a row but made no mistake this time as Allardyce’s men won 3-0 in front of Sir Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse. “I can’t quite put what I feel into words,” said Allardyce. Neither could a fuming Moyes. The bookies responded to Bolton’s promotion by installing them as 4/7 favourites for the drop. They didn't get relegated until 2012.God’s gift to Stoke
Brentford vs Stoke, 2002
Second Division play-off final
The south dressing room at theMillennium Stadium had become the sporting equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle – whichever team went in it was guaranteed not to leave their division, or leave Wales with any silverware.
Stoke and their notoriously superstitious manager Gudjon Thordarson, though, were taking no chances. A television interview room suspected of creating negative energy was replaced with a 7ft mural featuring a phoenix, a galloping horse and a glowing sun.
“I made time for myself in the dressing room and spoke to the Almighty and we sorted out the dressing room,” said the nutty Icelander. “He said to me, ‘No problem, son.’” With that kind of help Brentford didn’t stand a chance and after easing to a 2-0 victory, Stoke were ontheir way to the First Division.
Imps’ five-year curse
Bournemouth vs Lincoln, 2003
Third Division, play-off final
Just five days before the start of the 2002/03 season Lincoln had been in administrationand were favourites for relegation out of the Football League. Now they were 90 minutes from promotion, thanks in large part to super-sub Simon Yeo, who had come off the bench to score twice in the semi-final first leg. “It’s a huge achievement for us,” said Imps boss Keith Alexander. “We should be the team of the season.”
But not only did they get thrashed 5-2 in the final, it would be the first of five successive play-off appearances for Lincoln. And to the despair of their long-suffering fans, they would succeed in none of them. Andy Townsend, of the Lincoln Supporters Trust, recalls the misery. “Five years on the bounce we got to the play-offs and not once did we get promoted. I remember the first time we got there and lost to Bournemouth in the final, but in many ways that didn’t really matter – we were just thrilled to be there.
"The year that really sticks in the throat was 2005, when we lost 2-0 to Southend. It was a caseof tired legs and them hitting us on the break. I don’t mind admitting there were a few tears shed over that one. By the time the fifth year rolled around, we were really thinking: ‘Do we need to go through all this again?’ I think by the end it was really affecting the players. It was more psychological than anything.”
Perhaps the best tactic would have beento just stop caring. When Millwall beat Swindon in the League Oneplay-off final, having been play-off victims five times, they banished their hoodoo by ignoring the big occasion and treating the game as any other – even choosing towear scruffy tracksuits.
Dowie’s day in the sun
Crystal Palace vs West Ham, 2004
First Division play-off final
“When Iain took over, promotion was a million miles away, but we kept believing,” said assistant Palace boss Kit Symons after a Wembley win over West Ham that provided the culmination of one of football’s most epic revivals. Palace were 19th when Dowie took the reins in December 2003 and now his side – courtesy of Neil Shipperley’s winner – were contemplating life among the elite of the English game. “We’re talking about teams like Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea,” saidan excited Dowie. “I don’t sleep as a manager in Division One so what I’ll be like in the Premiership Ireally don’t know!”
It’s a dog’s life
Huddersfield vs Barnsley, 2006
League One play-off semi-final, second leg
Barnsley sub Chris Shuker stuck out a leg and Huddersfield mascot Terry the Terrier – punching the air in delight at an equaliser – hit the deck in this third-tier play-off semi. At that moment, Town’s hopes of getting one over on their Yorkshire rivals hit the skids, too. As stewards battled to contain the fracas caused by Shuker’s dog-handling skills, Barnsley scored twice to seal a final with Swansea. “I’ve had my family in my office in tears,” said Huddersfield boss Peter Jackson. Imagine the reactionback at Terry’s kennels.
Yann hits a bum note
Cardiff City vs Leicester, 2010
Championship play-off semi-final, second leg
Every player wants a song written about them, don’t they? Yann Kermorgant might beg to differ. After his limp Panenka penalty cost Leicester City a place in the Championship play-off final, Foxes fan David Henson chose to immortalise the Frenchman’s howler to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart. “As I watched my TV screen, I was sure that he’d have ripped it / Could not believe what I’d seen when the stupid w***er chipped it / Confidence is one thing but you took it too far / Did someone tell you you were Eric Cantona? / What else can I say? / He was totally s*** from the start.” What else can you say, indeed?
Holloway speechless
Blackpool vs Cardiff, 2010
Championship play-off final
Cardiff lost the match but they did achieve the unlikely feat of rendering Ian Holloway lost for words. Blackpool won 3-2 in one of the play-offs’ biggest fairy tales – a result that left the effervescent West Countryman strangely quiet. “I can’t put this achievement into words,” said a tearful Ollie. “I usually like a chat but all I can say is that I’m bursting with pride.”
Terriers break Cherries
Huddersfield vs Bournemouth, 2011
League One play-off semi-final, second leg
Fewer than 10,000 bothered turning up for the first leg 1-1 draw at Dean Court, but those who showed up for game No.2 were glad they did... if they were a home fan, anyway. The teams traded blows in the first half at the Galpharm Stadium, but it was Huddersfield who took a half-time lead with goals from Lee Peltier and Danny Ward cancelling out Steve Lovell's equaliser. But Lovell struck again after half-time, and that's how it stayed after 90 minutes. And so to extra-time, where an 18-year-old Danny Ings headed the Cherries into a 104th-minute lead. But before referee Neil Swarbrick could blow for the interval, Huddersfield's Antony Kay struck to level things up once more.
Once again, that's how it stayed. The penalty shootout wasn't so close, though: Huddersfield netted all four of their spot-kicks, with misses from Liam Feeney and Anton Robinson meaning Bournemouth travelled home blue. Huddersfield went on to lose 3-0 in the final to Peterborough at Old Trafford, while Bournemouth... well, they'd end up having their big moment a few years later.
Powell packs punch
Crewe Alexandra vs Cheltenham Town, 2012
League Two play-off final
Crewe had finished seventh in the League Two table, but saw off Southend 3-2 in the semi-finals and headed to Wembley in hope more than expectation against Cheltenham, who'd wiped the floor with Torquay. That hope quickly blossomed 15 minutes into the final, however, when the Railwaymen's rising midfielder Nick Powell thundered home a beauty. Crewe added a second eight minutes from time through Byron Moore. Powell joined Manchester United before he could kick a ball in League One.
Deeney drama
Watford vs Leicester, 2013
Championship play-off semi-final, second leg
With the match poised at 2-2 on aggregate and about to enter extra-time, Leicester's Anthony Knockaert won a dubious penalty. Hornets keeper Manuel Almunia pulled off a sensational double save, allowing Watford to counter. No need to guess the rest: within 20 seconds Kasper Schmeichel had flapped at the other end, before Troy Deeney fired the Hornets to Wembley (where they lost to Crystal Palace).
Belt up, Steve
Leyton Orient 2-2 Rotherham United, 2014
League One play-off final
Rotherham had one foot in the Championship as they sought back-to-back promotions, but to make it all the way they'd have to get past an impressive Leyton Orient side who'd only just missed out on automatic promotion. At half-time in this one, it looked like their dream was over after first-half goals from Moses Odubajo and Dean Cox had given Orient a commanding 2-0 lead at Wembley. What the O's hadn't counted on was Alex Revell, Rotherham's predatory poacher who'd also netted in the semis against Preston.
If the striker's first goal was important on 55 minutes, his second five minutes later was huge in more ways than one– a sumptuous half volley from 35 yards that's arguably one of Wembley's greatest ever goals. Millers' fans celebrated wildly, but none of them more so than boss Steve Evans, who almost lost his trousers running down the touchline like a chubby child running after the ice cream van. Rotherham won on penalties, while a miserable Orient followed up their misery with relegation to League Two in 2014/15.
Blades blunted in County Ground thriller
Swindon Town 5-5 Sheffield United, 2015
League One play-off semi-final second leg
It's accepted that second legs are usually more entertaining than the cagey ones that predede them– but Swindon and Sheffield United took that idea even further with a 10-goal thriller at the County Ground. The hosts led 2-1 from the first leg and were absolutely crusing to Wembley when Ben Gladwin's brace and Michael Smith put them 5-1 up on aggregate inside just 18 minutes of the second leg.
Even when Nathan Thompson's own goal and Chris Basham pulled two back for the Blades before half-time, Smith notched his second from the penalty spot with half an hour remaining. Steven Davies and Jonathan Obika swapped goals to make it 5-3 on the night, but Sheffield United hadn't given up and struck twice in the last two minutes of normal time to level things up.
With nine minutes' added time they had a chance to peg back Swindon where it really mattered too, but the Robins overcame the jitters to come out clean from the most goal-laden play-off semi-final in history.
More features every day on FFT.com
featureThu, 12 May 2016 10:29:22 +0000Joe Brewin385546 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comFootball League Review: Last-day delight for Middlesbrough and Bristol RoversMiddlesbrough held Brighton to secure promotion from the Championship, while Bristol Rovers pipped Accrington for third place in League Two.http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/football-league-review-last-day-delight-middlesbrough-and-bristol-rovers
Middlesbrough ended their seven-year absence from the Premier League by holding promotion rivals Brighton and Hove Albion to a 1-1 draw at the Riverside.
Brighton headed to Teesside needing a win to pip the hosts to the second automatic promotion spot, but fell behind to a first-half strike from Cristhian Stuani.
And although Dale Stephens did give Chris Hughton's the visitors hope by heading them level on 55 minutes, the midfielder saw red moments later for a wild challenge on Gaston Ramirez.
Middlesbrough duly hung on to secure their place in the top flight, while Brighton were left facing the prospect of a play-off semi-final against Sheffield Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Burnley were crowned champions after a 3-0 win at relegated Charlton Athletic, who saw manager Jose Riga subsequently resign amid widespread fan discontent at the club's ownership.
Sam Vokes, Andre Gray and George Boyd all found the net as Sean Dyche's men completed an unbeaten second half of the season.
Hull City warmed up for the play-offs with a 5-1 hammering of Rotherham United while their upcoming opponents Derby County were beaten 1-0 at home by Ipswich Town.
In League Two, there was last-gasp delight for Bristol Rovers who claimed the third automatic promotion place courtesy of a 2-1 comeback victory over relegated Dagenham and Redbridge.
Accrington Stanley had occupied third spot at the start of play, but were held to a 0-0 home draw by Stevenage and Rovers dramatically pipped them at the last thanks to Lee Brown's 92nd-minute winner.
Oxford United secured second place with a 3-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers.
Accrington will now meet AFC Wimbledon in the play-offs, while Plymouth Argyle will take on Portsmouth.
news_articleSat, 07 May 2016 16:55:55 +0000Anonymous569812 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comLess Than A Game: “You hate us, we don’t care"Not every teams angst is necessarily reciprocated by the other side, as Nick Moore explains...Nick Moorehttp://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/less-game-you-hate-us-we-dont-care
Fulham vs Chelsea
Has anyone ever really disliked Fulham? Consider the immaculate, homely sounding Craven Cottage, its delightfully bucolic park and river surroundings, and the thoughtful neutral area for randoms who just want to stroll along and take in a match:it’s always been a frankly lovely place to go and watch football, and its fans tend to be a pleasant bunch, too.
Even old moneybags Mohamed Al-Fayed came across as a fairly harmless berk rather than a predatory oligarch. Brentford try to give not loving their Thames-mates a punt, but you sense that even their heart isn’t really in it.
And while Fulham undeniably have a genuine antipathy for their much wealthier and flashier very-near-neighbours, and despite this being a regular Premier League fixture for many years, no genuine malice ever really flowed back towards the Cottagers from Chelsea’s loyalists, who’d rather look north and east to Spurs and West Ham for some fireworks.
Notts County vs Nottingham Forest
When FourFourTwo visited Nottingham for a League Cup derby between the two back in 2011, we were hard pushed to find anyone with a bad word to say about the other –there was even a eccentric wearing a mad half-and-half boater hat, covered in Subbuteo figures, who supported both sides.
After extensive probing, we did discover the odd County fan happy to say they “dislike” or “resent” their more successful city-mates (steady on, there!) and even admit that such distaste was largely down to jealously, but at one point in the fixture, the whole ground joined together to sing “Nottingham, Nottingham, Nottingham!”
Forest enthusiasts also generally look upon the ‘Pies as a likeable, daft little brother: many even cheer at the City Ground when it’s announced at half-time that County are leading. Red bile is reserved for Derby, and even given Leicester’s recent successes, the Rams remain their primary foe.
Bolton vs Manchester United
This fixture might have been a tasty one back in the days of Nat Lofthouse, but the problem since has been that United have such a busy to-do list when it comes to other sides to detest: there’s the eternal, irresolvable loathing of Liverpool; the brotherly intercity bother of City – only made worse by the Blues’ resurgence – and a properly bitter War Of The Roses with Leeds (currently on ice).
The genuine ire of Trotters fans – who lustily declare “we only hate Man United” – just isn’t properly reciprocated, and would probably be better directed at someone like Wigan (a rugby town without the history for Bolton to consider them worthy), Blackburn (sometimes lively, but Rovers concentrate more on Burnley) or Bury. Heading down to League One won’t keep them on any radars at Old Trafford.
Millwall vs West Ham vs Spurs vs Arsenal
A nasty little daisy chain of outfits not quite operating on the same level. Millwall against West Ham – when it happens –is probably the planet’s Superclasico of proper naughty, Danny Dyer-voiceover argy-bargy that gets condemned by the Home Secretary (2009’s riot being the worst recent example). But while the Hammers certainly have bile to spew for the Lions, their true nemeses are Spurs.
Likewise Tottenham have a robust repugnance of West Ham, but consider it a secondary affair to the more pressing matter of raging at Arsenal. Ultimately, everyone is left even more bitter and wound up than if they could just arrange some nice, equal ill will.
Bradford vs Leeds
To Bantams, the team down the road are Leeds scum, L**ds, or L666ds. A geographical dislike was reinforced by the ‘Dirty Leeds’ of the 1970s, then worsened by a 1983 winding-up petition (caused by an unpaid transfer fee to the Elland Road board), and an incident in 1986 where hooligans set fire to a chip van inside Valley Parade.
United’s subsequent success didn’t help: in 2001, Leeds were in a Champions League semi-final the same season as Bradford were relegated, and began their terminal decline.
But while the Whites’ subsequent implosion of their own has perhaps softened their neighbours’ fervour, the average Elland Road loyalist still doesn’t really register Bradford anywhere on their hate spectrum, with traditional rivals – especially Manchester United – still dominating, despite over a decade outside the top flight.
Torquay vs Plymouth vs Exeter
A West County shambles to almost match the complex London one: older generations of Plymouth fans preserve a historic docking-related detestation of Portsmouth, and others disapprove of Bristol City – who have been a club of a similar stature to varying degrees over recent years, but don’t really repay the sentiment, because they’re got cross-city rivals to lob missiles at.
Exeter remain scorned, and resent the Pilgrims back heartily, but allthis leaves poor old Torquay United hopping mad on the sidelines. They’d love a war with the Green Army – but find themselves getting patronisingly patted on the head in return by many Argyle fans, who claim to quite like them. Infuriating.
Carlisle vs Preston
Cumbria’s finest have always had a problem getting anyone to generate enmity against them due to their isolation: Newcastle are their nearest club, but are still 60 miles away and uninterested; and Carlisle have yo-yoed among the divisions too much to find the time to build up a rivalry. They sometimes try to annoy Preston, but the Lancastrians only have hate-filled eyes for Blackpool.
Leicester vs Forest / Derby / Coventry
It’s now official national policy that everybody in the England has to love Leicester, admire their plucky underdog owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha (who only has £2.2 bn), and weep hysterically with joy whenever they think about their miraculous, Premier League-saving exploits.
But even before they became the People’s Princesses, the Foxes had trouble getting anyone to feel much bona fide malevolence for ‘em: Forest and Derby aren’t keen, but focus more on each other, and the geographic spread of Leicester’s fanbase –they’re situated in a one-team county with many out in the sticks – means that even City fans themselves can’t focus their animus.
Many in the north of the ‘shire disapprove of Forest the most, those out west often dub Derbytheir public enemy, while further south, there’s often a preference for objecting to Coventry. It’s all very confusing, but keep the success going, and they may actual start to attract some big-hitting haters.
More features every day •FourFourTwo’s 50 Biggest Derbies
featureFri, 29 Apr 2016 13:20:15 +0000Gregg Davies565849 at http://www.fourfourtwo.comFootball League Review: Burnley rescue a point, Wigan top League OneMichael Keane's 93rd-minute header staved off defeat against Brighton for Burnley, while Wigan moved to the League One summit.http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/football-league-review-burnley-rescue-point-wigan-top-league-one
Burnley salvaged a point away at Championship promotion rivals Brighton and Hove Albion as Michael Keane's last-gasp header rescued a 2-2 draw on Saturday.
Sean Dyche's side were forced to come from behind twice in order to depart the south coast with a result that keeps them three points clear of Middlesbrough.
Dale Stephens put Brighton ahead in the 30th minute but Andre Gray drilled home from the centre of the box three minutes later.
Antony Knockaert's deflected strike looped over Tom Heaton to see Chris Hughton's side go into the interval ahead, but Keane sparked scenes of jubilation among the visiting fans with his 93rd-minute header earning a point.
Hull City took advantage of Brighton dropping points with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Bristol City at the KC Stadium, while Cardiff City boosted their play-off hopes by defeating Derby County 2-1.
Fulham moved four points clear of the relegation zone by defeating MK Dons 2-1 at Craven Cottage, while Jorge Teixeira's 94th-minute goal saw fellow strugglers Charlton Athletic past Birmingham City by the same score.
Burton Albion went into Saturday's meeting with Bury as League One leaders, but a 1-1 draw saw their winless run extend to three games.
Wigan Athletic capitalised on their slip up, a 5-1 thumping of Shrewsbury Town, who played the last 30 minutes with 10 men following Zak Whitbread's dismissal, sending them one point clear at the summit.
Blackpool enhanced their hopes of avoiding relegation with a 2-0 victory at home to Southend United, while bottom side Crewe Alexandra are now without a win in 12 after receiving a 3-0 thumping from Peterborough United.
Doncaster Rovers and Colchester United both avoided defeat, but Fleetwood Town's 1-1 draw at Swindon Town means they are no closer to safety.
Northampton Town missed a chance to confirm promotion from League Two as they were held 2-2 at home to Notts County.
Bristol Rovers jumped into the automatic promotion places as their 3-0 triumph against Crawley Town coincided with Plymouth Argyle suffering a 2-1 loss at Devon rivals Exeter City.
Despite a 1-1 draw at home to Leyton Orient, York City now find themselves nine points adrift of safety following Stevenage's 1-0 victory at Luton Town.
news_articleSat, 02 Apr 2016 17:06:28 +0000Anonymous553962 at http://www.fourfourtwo.com